Stuck In A Partial Dimension
by joerandom
Summary: Buffy fights a demon in a very unusual place, and collides with Professor McGonagal, leaving a mystery for both of them.


**Stuck In A Partial Dimension**

joerandom

7 Dec, 2011

Buffy fights a demon in a very unusual place, and collides with Professor McGonagal, leaving a mystery for both of them.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe. This is purely for entertainment; it's called "Fan Fiction". Just to be clear. :-)

**Chapter 1**

**A Normal Night On The Town ... In London**

Giles came down the stairs from his study and noticed Buffy dressed for a Slayer's night out; leather boots, slacks, jacket, cream silk shirt, and unseen - an arsenal fit for a platoon. Giles looked surprised, "going out with the girls tonight? "

"Yes. It's been a while since I've been out with the rank and file. I thought I could use the training." Buffy had that sly smile in her eyes.

Giles smiled with a depth of fondness that Buffy missed as she turned. The door from the hall opened with an explosion of girly noise as eleven young Slayers splashed into the entryway. The noise abruptly fell to the floor and motion stopped as they felt and saw Buffy. Buffy stood still, seeming casual, but the electricity in the room had jumped almost to arcing. She moved slowly, her heels clicking on the tile, every Slayer tracking her like radar. She stopped and asked, "Who's leading tonight? "

"I am. Colleen Hays." A tall brunette nodded without breaking eye contact.

"Very good." Buffy smiled encouragingly, "Lead on."

Colleen took a minute to regain her focus. "Alright girls, _try_ to stay together and follow my lead. Let's go." Colleen moved out the front door. No one moved until Buffy moved toward the door and then the room drained of Slayers, leaving Giles.

The first part of the evening would have been positively comical except for the occasional focussing of 12 high-voltage stares locked on a single target. No comedy there. Colleen spent the evening trying to slow the girls down and get them to think before acting. It was mostly working, until a few hours before dawn. A group of five very new vampires were moving in a coordinated focussed group that they would normally be incapable of. This drew Buffy's attention. Was someone else directing them?

"Colleen? " Buffy got Colleen's attention. "Let me take the lead on this one." Colleen nodded with relief. "Girls, I have a challenge for you. I want those vamps captured. Do not stake them unless you have to, got it? At least 2 Slayers per vamp. I'll draw them out, everyone fan out and encircle them. Attack on my whistle. Got it? " Everyone nodded. "Let's do it."

After the Slayers melted into the surroundings, Buffy walked out into the street in the direction of the five vamps. She tried to look vulnerable and lost, which meant that she looked like she was trying _not_ to look lost; her confidence was just too deep. The vamps reacted smoothly like a trained unit, with no noticeable communication, but still had all the eye-blinks and some of the klutziness of new vamps. They were subtle. They moved easily, casually to close Buffy in as she walked toward them.

"Um, hi. Can you help me? I'm looking for the book store that's supposed to be around here? " Buffy looked like dessert on a platter. The five moved in fast, closing the circle and getting tighter. Buffy whistled and in less than a second kicked or hit all five knocking them down. The girls were on them in a flash. The melee had begun. Buffy stood watching the girls, evaluating their performance. An explosion of white hot pain hit Buffy. For a second she realized she was down, not where she had been standing. She was up in a flash looking for what hit her. Her spider sense was tingling, but she couldn't see anything except the girls fighting the vamps. Then her spider sense spiked and she ducked to the ground. She saw nothing until a bright light flared next to one of the girls who then went flying to land in a heap. Then another flash and a girl flew and crashed. Still Buffy still saw nothing, but her spider sense seemed to be following the flashes. She was up and running after that spider sense. Another flash at the girl just in front of her and she lashed out with a blade she had pulled from her boot. Another flash, but this time she caused it as she hit something with her knife and her spider was going nuts. Something was right in front of her but she couldn't see it, only sense it. "It" seemed to be moving away. She moved after it, following it by feel. The closer she was the easier it was to feel.

"Buffy, where are you going! ? " Colleen yelled.

"Take them to Giles! " Buffy yelled as she ran into a side alley. Another flash of white pain and she was down. A back-flip and she was up and after her spider again. She could tell she was getting close so she started lashing out with her blade. Occasionally the blade would hit her spider with a white flash which would illuminate something. The more she hit it, or kept a hand on it the more she could see where it was and avoid getting hit. As the alley came to an end a bright blue swirling portal opened up in front of her spider and it jumped in. Before she could react it sucked her in too with a bright blinding pain.

Buffy opened her eyes and saw nothing. She opened her spider sense and felt something, faintly. She slowly got up and tried to see around her. There was some very dim light, but not enough to see anything useful. Just a vague sense that it wasn't totally dark. She also got no sense of space from any sound. It sounded like a room with thick carpet and heavy drapes. She felt very exposed. She had lost her knife. She reached into her other boot and pulled out a long thin dagger. She spun it in her hand, absently playing with it as she considered her situation. She can't see, but can the spider? Fear shot through her. She moved to a ready position. She opened up her spider sense and started to slowly spin around sensing. She just started to feel something when she was hit with a blinding light and pain. She rolled to her feet again still feeling for the spider, turning around a bit faster. Her spider sense spiked again and this time she was fast enough to get her blade out in the right direction. She was struck with pain but evidently so was her spider because she saw something in the flash. She sped after it. Within three steps it seemed to have turned and swiped at her (or something like that), she jumped back and then forward to strike, the blade connecting with a bright flash. She pressed her connection and kept striking, jumping back, and advancing to strike again. A dance driven by her spider sense. The monster was fast but she was faster. She just couldn't see it! That made her very nervous so she let her inner Slayer out to play. Her spider sense focussed in on the monster and she relaxed into the hunt. She reached out with her free hand and seemed to grab hold of something, she couldn't tell what. The spider sense bucked hard against her hold. She got in a really good hit on it and it started dragging her around. Again she hit it and it doubled it's jerking, a measure of desperation in it's movements. She hit it hard again and it seemed to explode in white light and her pain.

Buffy back-flipped up into a ready position and started to feel around again for the monster. It did not seem to be near. She slowly stood up straight and relaxed into her sense of the hunt. Closing her eyes and reaching out her senses she turned slowly. At one point she seemed to feel a direction. She turned dropping into a crouch and started to move toward her senses.

**Chapter 2**

**A Splash Of Colour**

Professor McGonagle came out of the staff room toward the Great Hall for dinner. It was over 4 years since the end of the war, since Voldemort's defeat, yet she was still surprised to see the Great Hall so empty of students. Thinking too hard on that was dangerous, since it started down the well-trodden road toward all those others, students and staff alike, that would never be coming back. She mustered her energy to reject the lure of those emotions and redirected her thoughts back to the present. The noise of the students was comforting and brought her back to a better frame of mind. She was almost to the Headmaster's chair at the staff table when a blinding flash of light and the sound of electrical arcing filled the hall, along with a few student screams followed by silence. The room held it's breath.

Between the tables two thirds of the way toward the doors was what looked like the ghost of a woman haphazardly laying on the floor. A translucent mist devoid of colour, but sharp of features. McGonagle moved down the isle toward the apparition. The woman was dressed in muggle clothes, knee high boots, slacks, a jacket. She was beautiful. As McGonagle got closer she could see the ghost woman's clothes were torn, though not through wear since the clothes still looked new otherwise. The woman's long hair was clasped in a pony tail at the back of her neck.

"Wow! Who is this, professor? A new castle ghost? " A second year student asked in innocent wonder.

"No. Stay back! Students, move back! " The urgency in her voice brought a tingle to the students spines. They moved away but made sure they could still see. McGonagle tried a healing diagnostic spell on the woman but it showed nothing. Not death, not injury, just nothing. Like trying to diagnose sand. Hogwarts Castle saw nothing, which shocked McGonagle deeply. Nothing should get by the Hogwarts wards and protective spellwork.

The woman opened her eyes and looked around without moving her head. The students whispered and then gasped as the woman stood up in one incredibly graceful motion. No hint of tiredness or infirmity, just energy and calm smooth control. She was petit, about the size of a fifth year though she looked older. Maybe early twenties.

"Who are you? " McGonagle asked the ghost. No reply or even indication she had been heard.

The woman was looking around with unfocused eyes, seemingly listening. Her face looked tense, determined. She bent down and reached into her left boot and pulled out a long thin dagger with at least a 12 inch blade. The students gasped and stepped back. McGonagle fired a stunning spell which passed harmlessly into the wall at the end of the hall, as with a restraining spell for ghosts. The woman did not react at all but stood spinning and flipping the blade with graceful ease, a thoughtful expression focussed elsewhere.

It's as if they were watching a muggle movie of this woman. A vision? Past? Future?

The woman suddenly crouched down in a fighting stance, blade out, expression hard. She started to slowly spin around, seemingly looking and listening. She made a quick reaction to her left, a blinding flash, electric arcing sound, a magical explosion, and the woman was thrown several feet passing through the Ravenclaw table and a number of students who could not get out of the way. All of the students in that area collapsed, most seemingly untouched by the ghost. Evidently not a vision of past or future given the current effects. The woman rolled and stood up again in a fighting stance as if nothing had happened. Some of the students slowly tried to crawl away, some did not move at all. The woman turned in a circle, listening.

"Students! Move away! " McGonagle started levitating the motionless students and tying them to older students. "All those tied to injured students, run to the infirmary. Now! " She sent a Patronus message to Madam Pomfrey to open the infirmary. "All students, out the door! To your common rooms! " Everyone started to move, climbing over tables to go around the woman.

The woman spun amazingly fast and there were two bright flashes and noises. She was knocked to the side and then sped after something, then jumped back. She struck with her blade with a bright flash, which illuminated part of something unseen. With each flash another magical explosion was felt and a few more students collapsed. The woman kept attacking the invisible foe, dancing with it in a beautiful but fast and dangerous ballet. She reached out with her hand and grabbed something and then a very bright flash as she stabbed it. More students collapsed as they tried to move away. The woman did not let go but was pulled as her foe struggled. Another stab and a flash, more students collapsed. The Great Hall was almost empty now. Another strike, a very bright flash and sound. The woman was thrown to the ground. The few students left in the Great Hall were down but not out, only McGonagle and a few Professors were still standing.

The woman back-flipped up into a ready position and started turning, hunting. McGonagle was busy levitating all the unconscious students. "Professor Sinistra, can you take these students to the infirmary? " He nodded and started herding his floating charges out the door.

The woman had straightened up, arms at her sides. Her eyes closed, a serene look on her upturned face, her arms slowly came up and out from her sides palms up, the blade in her right hand. She started to turn around slowly, sensing. It was an oddly fearsome sight; such power wrapped in a peaceful exterior. McGonagle leaned on the Gryfindor table breathing tiredly. She levitated the remaining students and floated them out into the Main Hall and set them down. "Filius, what do you think? "

"Absolutely gorgeous! The best fighter I have ever seen."

The woman dropped into a fighting stance and moved stealthily toward the Head Table passing through tables, benches, books, food. She seemed to have no idea what havoc she was causing to Hogwarts.

**Chapter 3**

**Only The Winner Gets Out**

Buffy moved carefully forward, toward her spider sense. She slowed to a stop and started moving back and forth, probing the shape and size of her spider sense. Once she had inscribed an arc around it she struck in the center with her dagger. A bright flash and her spider took off with her right after it. She reached out and caught it stabbing it deeply, causing another bright flash which turned into an explosion of light and pain as she was hit. She landed a distance away. Her spider sense spiked and she jumped straight up and came down point-first right on top of her spider. The flash and pain were blinding, but only for a second.

Buffy opened her eyes and thought she saw something. Dimly, waveringly, a stone hall that looked open to the sky. She jumped up, turned and saw blurry images of people standing in the hall. Then they disappeared as her spider sense came back right next to her and started to spike. She struck out and connected but was hit and thrown quite a ways.

Buffy didn't remember landing, but she was getting up again. Slower this time. She didn't sense her spider immediately. But she was getting glimpses of the stone hall again. They made her dizzy. She tried to close her eyes but it didn't help so she kept watching. A tired old woman was watching her, trying to say something to her but Buffy couldn't hear. Her spider sense came alive again, off to her right. She turned to face it. This time she could see it. Faintly, but it was there. It looked like your run-of-the-mill huge demon. It was laying on the ground, evidently trying to wake up and get up. She stalked toward it. Before she got within striking distance it stood up and started toward her. It swung a mace at her, she ducked. The demon looked surprised which gave Buffy the opening she needed. The mace carried the demon's right arm across it's body where Buffy grabbed it with her left hand continuing it's momentum and spinning it around. She spun with it coming back-to-back with it where her right elbow slammed into the demon's back pushing it forward. She spun the rest of the way and stabbed it in the back. It tried to pull away but she lifted up on the dagger, lifting the demon into the air over her head where it had no traction and no reach to her. Electricity was arching all around and all over the demon, growing worse as the demon flailed on it's spit. Buffy stood still, arm in the air with the huge demon hanging from the dagger writhing it's death throws with electricity continuing to arc. It screamed, but didn't finish it.

Then a white-hot explosion of pain.

**Chapter 4**

**Someone Else's Last Battle**

Professor McGonagle watched as the woman slowly, stealthily moved toward the Head Table. "Filius, do you have any idea what she is fighting against? " The woman started moving back and forth around an area, like she was probing for her enemy.

"She seems to be able to sense her foe somehow. I don't think she can see it. It is amazing that she can effectively fight an invisible foe." Professor Flintwick said.

She struck into the center of the area and got a bright flash, noise, and magical explosion.

"Yes, it does seem like something invisible. Let's try making it visible." They started playing with spells to find out what works. "It doesn't seem to be normal magic." Professor Flintwick said

"No, my stunner and ghost restraint spells passed right through her." Professor McGonagal said.

The woman ran after something and stabbed it. The bright flash and explosions were becoming very draining. The woman was thrown about 10 feet away and lay still.

"Could it be dimensional? Via a portal of some kind? " Professor Flintwick asked.

"That's an idea." Professor McGonagal said.

The woman jumped straight up from laying flat on the floor, turned in mid-air and came down dagger-first straight into a very bright flash, noise, and explosion. "Yes! That is amazing. I've never seen anyone fight like this before."

This time she was only thrown about 5 feet to the side and lay still for a minute. She faded into and out of ghostly translucence and full color translucence to almost solid. The woman had blond hair. Black leather. A cream silk blouse. With red blood stains on her ripped and cut clothes. And green blood on the dagger. The woman got up and looked directly at Professor McGonagal, and evidently saw her. She looked confused and curious. Then amazingly fast she turned to the right and struck out with her blade and evidently got hit by the bright flash, noise, and explosion. She flew another 10 feet and landed rather hard. She was fading in and out of full-color when she got up again, slowly.

"What are you fighting! ? " Professor McGonagal asked the woman. She looked directly at her, blinked, looking rather dizzy. She did not respond.

"I've got it! " Professor Flintwick said triumphantly and ran through his spell. "And there it is! It's a demon! " His voice went shrill. "It's huge! Can we help her? "

As if in response, the woman turned and with the look of a pure predator on her face stalked toward the demon, seemingly unafraid. They watched in horror as the demon got up and swung it's mace at the now even smaller looking woman. She quickly ducked, grabbed the demon's arm swinging it around and hammering it in the back with her elbow. Spinning again she then sunk her blade all the way into the demon.

"Yes! Yes! Excellent! " Professor Flintwick was ecstatic. The woman then lifted the demon up by the dagger stuck in it's back. She stood there, legs braced apart, looking up, her arm straight up in the air holding the struggling demon on a stick as electricity arced around the demon. "Ah! Unbelievable! " It was a truly heroic image. And the last they remember.

**Chapter 5**

**The Winner Cleans Up**

Buffy heard noises, seemingly far away. Then began to feel distantly like someone was shaking her. Then the pain became all too clear. She opened her eyes to see Colleen standing over her. She was in the alley again, laying on the filthy ground. She sprung up to standing, breathing hard, trying to remain upright from the dizziness, holding onto Colleen.

"Buffy, are you alright? " Colleen looked worried.

Buffy coughed a few times. "Yes. My clothes are a mess! And gunk in my hair. Eww, yuck."

"What happened? I got back from taking the vamps to Giles and you weren't here. You were gone for over an hour, now you're back."

"I don't know. Well, I know something, but not nearly enough. Let's go talk to Giles about it." They walked unsteadily down the alley back to see Giles. It took them quite a while given their slow pace. But the sun was rising. Unfortunately, that meant that the world was waking and they couldn't hide in the darkness any more. They got a number of strange stares on their way, but they made it with no more difficulty.

When they came in, Giles was worried but not surprised. "Buffy, what happened? Even by your normal standards, you look ... like you've had a long night."

Buffy smiled at him. "What? Me? Nah. Just an invisible demon with lightning and a portal and a stone hall and ... I forget everything else. How about you? The girls OK? How about those five vamps? "

"Ah, I can tell you have quite a story to tell me. Let's have some tea, shall we? " Giles started to pull her down the hall.

"Story? How can you tell? " Buffy was too tired put up too much of a fight, besides she wanted to know what really happened.

"Right this way, just in here, I have some nice warm tea." Giles was piling it on, and enjoying it immensely. It was rare these days that he got Buffy to sit still for his care and concern, so he wasn't going to waste it. He sat her in a nice chair. "So, tell me what happened."

"Ah - saw vamps, chased something, killed it, done." Buffy said with a sweet smile.

"Oh come now, my dear. You must have had more fun than that." Giles was smiling slyly and looking directly into her eyes.

"OK." She launched into her story, this time not glossing over much.

Giles sat thinking. "Mmmm." He turned to focus on Buffy. "That is very interesting. I would guess, until I get a chance to do some research and be more sure, that you ran into an extra-dimensional demon."

"Sounds exciting, but why haven't we seen one before? I don't remember seeing anything like this one before." Buffy was quite curious.

"Well, I think they are quite rare. They come from some other dimensions, and because of that, in order to be able to go back to their own dimension, they never quite make it all the way into this dimension. And it sounds like it created a pocket-dimension, or an in-between dimension that straddled a number of other dimensions so that it could hide when it needed to."

"So when I killed it I got dumped right back to where the portal started from? "

"Yes. It also sounds like you knocked it nearly unconscious during your fight, which caused the pocket-dimension to weaken and you began to bleed through to other dimensions. It's very lucky you didn't knock it completely unconscious or you could have gotten dropped into another dimension permanently."

"Eww. Yes, very lucky. But why was I able to see it near the end of the fight? It would have taken a lot longer to kill it if I hadn't been able to see it."

"Yes, that is a very interesting question. We may never know."

**Chapter 6**

**Hogwarts Lives To See A Better Day**

Professor McGonagal began to be aware of sounds very slowly. They kept getting mixed up in her bad dreams. Eventually one of her bad dreams woke her up. She opened her eyes to see Madam Pomfrey about to pour a potion down her throat. She tried to say something and it came out as a horrible croak.

"Well, look at this. That took you long enough." Madam Pomfrey said. "Only Flintwick is taking longer."

Professor McGonagle cleared her throat. "Well, now I understand your strategy for keeping patients away from the infirmary."

"Yes, and it works very well, too. And I won't have you messing up my average, so you're going to have to get well soon."

Professor McGonagle smiled. "How long? "

"Only about a week."

"What! A Week? What happened? " A fit of coughing took over.

"Whatever those bright flashes and magical explosions were, they were damaging, or rather, draining your magical core. The children were affected first because their core is immature. Yours lasted longer but that meant that it took longer to heal than theirs. So you and Flintwick are the last to be released."

"Oh."

"So, now that your back, we were hoping you could tell us what happened? "

"Oh."

"Just oh? That's all? Really? "

Professor McGonagle smiled and sighed. "I'll let you know when I figure it out."

Two days later, Professor McGonagal was walking out of the staff room and almost made it to the Headmaster's Chair when de ja vue hit her rather hard. She stopped in her tracks and looked about, just to make sure there were no extra ghosts around. She continued to her place at the Head Table and stood waiting for the room to quiet.

"Good evening everyone. It's good to be back." The room exploded with applause. She bowed to the assemblage. "I would like to explain what happened just over a week ago. I know you have heard a lot of partial reports already, and I don't want to bore you with all that you've already heard. But I would like to relay what finally happened, since Professor Flintwick and I were the only other ones present, and to relay our explanation as to why this happened." She had everyone's rapt attention. "In the last few minutes of the incident, the ghost woman was still attacking something we could not see. And as Professor Flintwick will tell you, she was an unbelievably good fighter."

"Hear! Hear! " Professor Flintwick said emphatically.

"In order to make a decision about whether we should participate in this battle happening in our Great Hall Professor Flintwick and I decided we needed to see what she was attacking. Normal magic had no affect on the situation, so we tried portal magic, also known as Dimensional magic. This is not something you will find mentioned much outside the Restricted Section in the library, so feel free to ask Professor Flintwick about it." She smiled and he frowned. "Needless to say, Professor Flintwick found the correct spell and it illuminated what this woman was fighting. It was a _very_ large demon." Collective gasps throughout the room. "And given that we illuminated the demon, the woman could now see the demon as well, so she proceeded to kill it quite effectively. As Professor Flintwick will tell you, in much more detail than I will go into, this small woman stabbed the demon and lifted it up on her dagger and hung it there until it died." The shock was thick enough to cut. "The definitive conclusions we can draw from this are few. But our suspicions are that this demon was a cross-dimensional demon. It crosses dimensional boundaries to hunt. But in order to preserve it's ability to return home, it does not make a full transition to the new dimension. It is therefore invisible. So we think this demon was hunting in the woman's dimension. Cross-Dimensional demons also have the ability to create small temporary dimensional spaces that they use to hide in. These temporary spaces, or partial dimensions, straddle a number of other dimensions, or you might say brush up against them. We think the woman got caught in the demon's hiding place as she was hunting it and it was in this partial dimension where the fight that we observed took place. We are not sure why there was any level of interaction between our world and this partial dimension. Possibly because of the concentration of magical energy that is Hogwarts. We hope that when she killed the demon the temporary dimension collapsed sending her back to her original dimension. But there were a few instances during the fight where the dimensional boundaries were weakening and this woman almost spilled out of the partial dimension and landed in our dimension. Luckily for her, she did not. If you have any more questions I'm sure Professor Flintwick will be happy to answer them. And now, food! "

It took a few moments before anyone moved, but eventually the silence collapsed into an amazing amount of noise.

Professor Flintwick approached Professor McGonagle at her place at the table. "I was thinking. If we stored our memories of those last minutes in a pensieve, we could then transfer some of those images to a magical painting, could we not? "

"Hhmm. Yes, I think we could. That would be very interesting indeed. Yes, let's."

**The End**


End file.
